HISTORY
The University Place neighborhood
consisted originally of approximately 87 acres of land just northeast
of the Texas Christian University campus and three miles southwest
of the Fort Worth Central Business District. It is bordered on
the north by Park Hill Dr., on the east by Merida St., on the
south by the T.C.U. campus and on the west by University Drive.
Originally part of the 1875 M.J.
Arocha Survey, this land was divided and passed down through
the families of Hendricks, Smith, Burnett and Portwood. In 1883
the land passed to John S. Ball and J. Oscar Clark. They tried
to sell the land in 1889, but had to foreclose on the property
when the buyers failed to pay the $3,375 note at 10 percent interest.
The property was sold on the Tarrant County Courthouse steps
in 1903, to John Ball Jr. of New York, and the children of J.
Oscar Clark.
After John Ball Jr.'s death,
his and Clark's children sold the land to the Fairmount Land
Company for $11,000 in 1909. B. L. Waggoman, the president of
the Fairmount Land Company began subdividing the land in 1912.
The University Place area was
made more attractive to developers after the City of Fort Worth
acquired Forest Park in 1909, Texas Christian University moved
to its present location in 1910, and a street car line was routed
from the Central Business District to the TCU area. In 1922 the
land owned by the Fairmount Land Company, University Place, was
annexed by the City of Fort Worth.
In the September 16, 1923 edition
of the Fort Worth Record, it was written that the Carb
Building Company was planning to build brick-veneer cottages
in the new addition. In the article it stated that activity in
University Place, "is expected to pick up and take a new
lease on life."
The Carb Building Company planned
to begin building in the addition and assumed the selling rights
of the 154 lots in the section. The West Texas Construction Company
began the developing of the neighborhood with the installation
of curbs and sidewalks and the paving of Greene Avenue.
Most of the homes in University
Place were built between 1924 and 1929, helped by the oil boom
which occurred after World War I. A system of overpasses and
underpasses built in 1929 across the railroad tracks, helped
facilitate traffic between University Place and the Central Business
District.
Land use restrictions of University
Place were recorded on October 17, 1923, and included the then
common restriction of prohibiting the sale of 'intoxicating liquors'
from any home. The lots were reserved for homes that were constructed
of brick, stone, tile or stucco, and cost at least $4,500. Necessary
outhouses, garages and servants' houses did not need to be built
of brick.
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